Colia Clark, NY Green for US Senate, challenges Schumer’s support of Gaza siege

Colia Clark, the New York Green Party nominee for the US Senate seat presently occupied by Charles Schumer, said today that she was appalled by recent statements by Schumer supporting the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza, which is causing a humanitarian crisis there.

Schumer, speaking last week at an Orthodox Union event in Washington, D.C. said he supported the blockade out of the need “to strangle them economically until they see that’s not the way to go, makes sense.”

“How can it be that a US Senator is calling for economic genocide against the People of Gaza and Palestine when he states that the besieged and endangered people of Gaza should be, “strangled economically”? It’s urgent that the people of New York stand up to Senator Schumer for his violent speech. Senator Schumer must be sent a clear message that New York State is not in favor of any form of violence against those who seek to lift the weight of oppression from their backs. The people of New York abhor genocide through naked violence or economic genocide,” said Clark.

“As US Senator from New York, I propose to wage a campaign for a peaceful settlement of the Gaza crisis that respects the legitimate claims of the Palestinian Peoples and the right of the People of Israel to statehood. A Two State solution is the only way out of the present crisis. This means Israel dismantling all settlements in Palestinian territory and discontinuing the naked violence against Palestine in Gaza and on the open seas. Palestine must halt unprovoked assaults on the State of Israel. In the interest of the Middle East and world peace, Israel and Palestine must resolve this 62 year old dispute by uncovering ways to live in mutual harmony,” added Clark.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, traditionally a neutral organization, recently joined many other governments and legal observers in declaring that the Israel’s blockade of Gaza is a clear violation of international humanitarian law. “The whole of Gaza’s civilian population is being punished for acts for which they bear no responsibility. The closure therefore constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law,” the agency said in the statement.

Clark, in protesting the Israeli killing of humanitarian relief workers in the flotilla to Gaza, recently stated “Americans must demand immediate action from President Obama, and the US Congress to halt all further assistance to Israel. Not another dime must be spent until Israel ends its assaults upon peaceful protesters and withdraws all of its troops from Gaza.”

The Green Party of the US has stated that “Israel’s intractable, brutal, and humiliating treatment of Palestinians within its own borders and in the Occupied Territories, including the recent invasion and mass killings of civilians in Gaza, deserves international condemnation. Greens have called for economic boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel until it reverses its current policies. The Israeli government must lift the strangling economic restrictions it has placed on the Palestinian people, cancels the construction of settlements and displacement of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and abide by international law.”

GPNY has to gather 15,000 valid signatures to get its statewide slate on the ballot. From the website:

“An overall target of 30,000 signatures, with a minimum of 200 signatures identified in half the congressional districts, must be met. July 6, 2010 is the first day for signing nominating petitions. Aug. 10-17, 2010 are the dates for filing independent nominating petitions.”